Payment for ecosystem services as a measure for tropical dry forest conservation in Colombia

Final work presented in Economics and Enviroment course

Juan Sebastián Mendoza Páez

Forest engineering student

Tropical dry forest

It is an ecosystem caracterized by:

  • Strong rain stationality.
  • Among 4 to 6 months per year of drought.
  • Restricted to lowlands from Mexico to Bolivia and Brazil in neotropic.
  • Physiological and morphological adaptations of plants and animals.

From ~9 million of hectares of original tropical dry forest extension, today only remain around of 8%. The livestock grazing and agriculture expansion are the main drivers of deforestation.

(Instituto de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, 2014)

Payment for ecosystem services (PES)

  • The ecosystem services are the ecological characteristics, functions, or processes that directly or indirectly contribute to human wellbeing: that is, the benefits that people obtain from functioning ecosystems (Costanza et al., 2017).
  • PES is an economic instrument which aim is ensuring the provision of ecosystem services through direct and conditional incomes to population of strategic ecosystems.

Objective

The aim of this work was to determine the Colombian towns with potential to implement a PES scheme. The town potential was established through the opportunity cost1 of the main farming activities in regions where the tropical dry forest is present.

Methodology

Results

Key findings:

  • Andean region presented the major extension of tropical dry forest (~49%) followed by Orinoco region (~30%).
  • Approximately 300 thousands ha of tropical dry forest (30.1%) were classified with low opportunity cost.
Low opportunity cost per hectare by Colombian regions
Region Municipalities Total Area (ha) Opportunity cost per hectare
Minimum Maximum
Andean
209,220.51 $95.36 $295.51
Pacific
565.29 $96.43 $103.48
Caribbean
90,694.50 $103.48 $257.50

Conclusions

  • North departments of Colombia are key for the conservation of tropical dry forest.
  • Opportunities to improve by getting information to fine scale.

Thanks

References

Payment for ecosystem services as a measure for tropical dry forest conservation in Colombia

Costanza, R., De Groot, R., Braat, L., Kubiszewski, I., Fioramonti, L., Sutton, P., Farber, S., & Grasso, M. (2017). Twenty years of ecosystem services: How far have we come and how far do we still need to go? Ecosystem Services, 28, 1–16.
Instituto de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt. (2014). El Bosque Seco Tropical en Colombia (C. Pizano & H. García, Eds.).